Una Corda are a 5 piece instrumental group based in Birmingham England. They comprise of two guitarists, two bassists and a drummer. Proper position for floating shows what this band is capable of and I think it’s an indication of the standard of further recordings.
I first heard una corda because they were supporting pelican I decided to pick up a CD from one of the few shops it’s available from in Birmingham. I listened to it once on the train but apart from that didn’t really have time to listen to it again before seeing them live. From what I had heard of the CD I was expecting an enjoyable performance from them and a solid support band, what I got was a lot more than this their live performance was mesmerizing.
The music is difficult to describe, the music has a very strong rhythm, the drumming of this band is at a very high standard, one of the basses will usually add to the rhythm further, one guitar will usually play a riff or chords and the other guitar play wonderful lead parts. The addition of a second bassist is one of the things that intrigued me about this band wondering how well this would work but they do it excellently none of the instruments at any point feel needles and they all add something to the sound.
Tracks
One: this track begins with a guitar riff, the drums then come and the song slowly builds up in intensity. Every so often the song will pause and all the instruments come in again this happens a few time’s before a stronger lead part begins, signaling the song is about to build up further. The guitar tones on this track are all very nice with the distortion sounding really warm.
Two: this track begins with a drum beat and a bass, the guitars then come in with one playing chords and the other playing a nice riff, one of the basses provides extra rhythm with the other bass adding melody to the guitar parts. The lead guitar then kicks in playing another melody.
Three: this song has a slightly different sound to the other songs the begging is a lot more atmospheric, the drum beat that comes in sounds very strong.
Four: this song starts much more slowly than the other songs and continues quite slowly, there is a very nice distorted section of this song.
Overall the musicianship on this album is excellent for a first recording this is excellent and is easily up there with a lot of other great post rock bands. I hope this review puts across a bit about this bands talent it’s hard to describe the songs but I’d recommend checking out there site for a listen and hear for yourself how good this band are. If you ever have the opportunity of seeing this band live I’d defiantly take it I saw them play for the second time earlier this week supporting red sparrows, the new songs are even better than the one’s on this album.
http://www.unacorda.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/unacorda
